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Salamanders out of the Shade
Their name was called and the heightened spirit and cheer of the Domus Flau fell into a whisper. A sense of unease spread through the gathered crowd, because the guild which was about to enter was one which many had not heard of before this moment and the few that had begun to spread the word of them, only causing more and more to feelings of discomfort. The whole Domus had now succumbed mumbles of worry and discontent, the people just moments away from starting to protest against their entry. Then the closest ones to the entryway began to feel something. A surge of power, unlike anything that they had felt before. The surge closed in to begin and be felt across the whole arena, and with it, a melody and the clopping sound of hooves against the ground. A shining light could be seen shining from the entrance, and the melody grew stronger and stronger, taking the form of a song. Tensions and anticipation grew amongst the crowd, people rising up from their seats in hopes of catching sight of whatever it was. At that moment, bursting out from the opening charged a glimmering blue chariot, pulled by a harras of radiant steeds of light and iron dust. Upon this chariot stood the five contending members of Salamander Shade, a certain olive skinned woman standing higher than the rest of her comrades, her wavy apricot locks billowing in the wind as she sung her song, a voice to end all voices. The song spoke of triumph and wonders, a beautiful and mighty Aria surrounded by the sounds of orchestral music. The chariot drove in a circle around the colossal arena, the song growing louder and more intense the further they traveled until it reached its grand finale when they returned to their entry. The music and song faded away, only echoes ringing behind. The contenders stepped down as the chariot and horses disappeared into thin air, taking a deep bow towards the audience. A clap. And then another. In mere moments, the arena burst into thunderous applause. The woman whom had sung, Yu Shimamura reveled in the cheers, bowing time and time over, waving excitedly towards them. "Hehe, I told you that they would love it!" She told her skeptic comrade. "Perhaps, but it was still a real waste of magic. Now we are at less than our full potential. If this bites us in the rear, it will be on your head." Spoke the tall and proud Nina Kariyasaki, the woman behind the chariot forged from hardened data. In her mind, anything that does not progress them further in the competition or grants them an edge is a pointless endeavor. Nina received a bump by a metal plated elbow. She looked up towards the offender, the elderly man known as Albus Ovidius, the man responsible for the steeds of solar light and iron. "Come now, Nina, brighten up!" He told her with a deep chuckle. "It at least stilled the unease of the bystanders, and remember that it was our master's plan to appeal to them. So stop your moping and act like you care!" The sound of the crowd and even that of her fellow teammates made her throb as she had foolishly allowed herself to drink a bit more than she should have the night before, the hangover than loomed over her now was the price of her bad choices and something she would have to deal with at least until the first day of the GMG was over. Homura stood in her violet colored dress which made her look far more like someone one their way to their nine to five office job than one who would be participating in an event such as this one. She was relatively new to Salamander Shade but by no means was she an inexperienced wizard, a former Solis Knight, even so, such a title meant nothing when she had sworn to never speak of it. Despite the pain in her head, she managed a smile, waving up toward the crowd of people until she could no longer bare the glaring sunlight and her eyes were cast down to the dirt ground of the arena. Her hand tightened on the strap that held up the large book hanging at her side like a purse, her weapon of choice that had earned her a spot amongst the Knights in the first place. She would protect it with he life as it was her most prized possession gifted to her by her father during her childhood before his early demise. She let out a quiet sigh, knowing she had been picked to represent her guild was something she was quite proud but she wondered if she would be able to measure up to the others, not only of her own team but of the others as well. It wasn't as though she lacked confidence in her own abilities but she knew the competition was fierce and that she would need to pull her weight if they wanted to have a chance of winning. She looked back up toward the sky, the giant countdown meter high above them in the center of the stage as it slowly counted down from one minute which would be the time the first challenge would begin. A certain woman amongst their ranks remained a bit more hesitant than the rest of her teammates, hesitant to make her pressence known to anyone. This young woman, known as Calypso turned to Yu in hopes of comfort. "Mom, I am not sure if I can handle this. I think father made a mistake in picking me for this." she spoke, but before she could receive a response from her, there was a tap to the mic which caused the Domus to fall into silence, with the exception for the commentators on the high stands, giving a short introduction to each of the mages regarding the challenges that awaits them. Once they had finished their round up of the challenge ahead as well as giving them a short, parting good luck, the earth started to rumble beneath their feet as the Terrain Effect spell took hold of the arena. Sand became rock, gravel, and moss. In the vast field in which they were now standing in were only two noticeable objects. The first was a humongous cage which stood it front of them which contained a Wyvern of colossal properties, bashing its head aginst the bars in an attempt to achieve freedom. Then there was a great tower which spawned out of the ground rising several yards above themselves. A timer started ticking down towards the start of the first challenge and the Salamanders quickly huddled together and began to conjure up a plan of how to keep the crown safe. There was not nearly enough time to think up a strategy for every situation, but they came to agree on that Calypso with her enchantments would ensure the crowns safety whilst the rest of them would keep the Wyvern at bay. Calypso scurried off to the top of the tower before assuming the form of the demon Neith, who began to cast an enchantment around the general vicinity around the crown which would remove the ability of the area to carry sound waves, effectively removing all sound from the area. The cost of this was that in order for her to keep this spell up in such a concentrated area, she would have to remain close, but this rendered her all but useless to her comrades against the wyvern. All she could hope to do was that they had what it took to handle it on their own. The timer ran out, thus the cage for the wyvern opened up with a considerable crash, the beast bursting out of its containments, its roar shaking rumbling through the contenders bodies. The monstrous creature took steps at a rapid pace towards the tower. Yu assumed the form of the Kirin Kiyohime, partially transforming into the magnificent creature as she charged ahead towards the beast, sliding under it and grabbing it by the tail and trying to pull it back towards the cage. This proved to be an effort in vain as the beast proved much stronger than she had anticipated from a wyvern. The animal tail whipped her into the sky before turning its head towards her to spit a massive ball of acid towards her. She dashed to the side to avoid the acidic spit, all thanks to her innate ability of wingless flight. She soared down towards the creature once more, using her colossal strength to bash its head into the ground. She dashed back towards her comrades to rethink their plan. "So, what do we do? That thing is strong, so brute force alone probably won't cut it." she spoke as the beast was already recuperating from the blow. "I think you underestimate the power of brute strength, Yu." Homura says as her body begins to glow, rocks seeming to form on her skin before she took the form of a large stone golem standing about sixteen feet tall as she moved to challenge the wyvern that was still recovering from Yu's attack. Seeing the golem moving toward it, it charged forward in an attempt to bite Homura's shoulder only to find a mouthful of stone, shrugging her shoulder forward to throw the wyvern off, she quickly advanced, grabbing the beast by the neck and putting it in a headlock before attempting to step on its feet in hopes of budging the creature. "If you can get it off balance, I can probably push it back!" Homura said in as loud a voice as she could manage with her headache. "I'm all over it!" Nina shouted as she used thrusters of hardened Data to swiftly approach the great beast, wth Albus in tow. Utilizing her magic, she forged forth a thick hand cannon called the Grinder. This gun of data was one of her most potent guns, and if knocking it off of its stance was all it took, it should not require too much effort on her end. "Data-Make: Tempest Rounds!" Nina cried out as she filled her hand held shotgun with these magical bullets. While she was doing this, Albus had no intention of being left out of the action. The old man aimed for a higher point than Nina did. Whilst she was scurrying towards its legs, Albus aimed higher for maximized probability of their plan succeeding. "Solar Dragon's Dazzling Paw!" he cried out as he delivered an extremely powerful punch to its side, making it wobble in place, attempting to re-establish its balance. However, Nina had no intentions of letting that happen. Positioning herself at its feet, she aimed her gun towards its feet and with a squeeze of the hand cannon's handle, all 25 tempest bullets in its magazine became unleashed upon its foothold, knocking it straight off of its feet and having it crash down onto the ground with a mighty thud, leaving it wide open for further advances. With the Wyvern off balance, it was at the mercy of Homura's own strength and that of gravity as she pushed the wyvern back with all her might toward the cage, thankfully having caught the beast while it was still close to the cage. It was quickly pushed back into the cage, Homura slamming the gate shut behind it. Once the gate was closed, she turned toward her teammates, feeling the ground being to shake as a section of the tower opened up and revealed a spiral staircase leading down to the next challenge most likely. "Make sure Calypso gets the riddle piece and then tell her to come down so we can move on." Homura said as she transformed back into her human state. "Woho! Go Salamander!" Shouted a gleeful Calypso from the top of the tower, not being able to restrain her excitement after their success. The demonic woman began to jump up and down with glee. "Having fun?" Spoke a mature and more than familiar voice behind her. She spun around to find her melancholy mother there, giving her a weird look. Calypso looked down in shame under the gaze of Yu. Realizing her mistake, Yu stepped forward to comfort her daughter. "I'm sorry dear, I'm just a bit down, don't let me ruin your enjoyment. However, we still have a competition to win, so let's get that riddle piece and continue." Calypso nodded and went back to the crown in hopes of finding the bit of knowledge required to complete the final trial. She finally released her enchantment over her surroundings so that she could save up on her magic power. She began inspecting the crown, taking great care in handling it so that it did not shatter. After a quick look, she found a bit of inscription around the inner rim of it, where on one end she could read the piece of the riddle ahead, and the other being a hint towards the next trial. Calypso waved her mother over and showed her the text. Taking the hint, Yu backed off and ripped off a slab of rock from the wall, on which she began to carve the riddle into the slab. With a nod downwards, Yu and Calypso headed down towards the rest of their comrades. "Look at me," Spoke Yu, acting a bit more chipper. "I carry my own commandments. Thou shalt not devise stupid riddles." Noticing the sour faces of her comrades, she groaned before moving on down the stairs towards their next challenge. "Either way, it seems that the game makers have no intention of making things just outright simple. Besides from the bit of the riddle, there was another one. '"'A show of force will bring naught but pain. Deceit and trickery shalt be all in vain. But show the beauty of thine art and there shall be no shame '''" '''Props to them for trying to make a challenge sound pretty and all, but I honestly prefer something to be told strai-" Yu interrupted herself once they entered the next room. Before them stood a colossal three-headed hound, its three sets of eyes glowering down upon them, the colossal beast letting out a growl to sound its distaste of their presence. "Oooookay... Please tell me that someone has an idea?" Homura followed the group into the next room, encountering the large beast that blocked their way. Remembering the riddle that had been read off earlier, she fought through the slowly lessening headache to begin thinking as hard as she could. It was obvious that they couldn't simply destroy the beast. The line about beauty and art was the one that caught her attention the most as she knew the answer to their trouble lied somewhere in there. "Beauty and art, but not pain or trickery. I'd say we've gotta distract it but that'd probably fall under trickery and deceit..." She said as the beasts growls made it harder for her to think through the haze in her mind. "I'm at a loss, I can't think straight right now. Anyone else have any clues?" The great hound paced back and forth int he room, always keeping its eyes focused on the five intruders. The five contenders considered the trial, thinking back to the riddle that hinted towards this. "I think I have an idea." Spoke Albus. Everyone turned their attention towards him as he said this, and on his face was plastered a confident smirk. "Beauty of thine art. That is what it said, right? Don't you see? Magic is our art. The one thing that each and every one of us is capable of." "So you think showing off our magic may distract it?" Nina asked. "I can't be sure. It is entirely possible that it could fall under the category of deceit... There is only one way to know. Stay behind. If this goes south, only one should suffer for it." He said as he pushed his way through his comrades and made his way towards the beast. "Angel's Rise: Hou Yi's Greatest Feat." he muttered as great orbs of solar light took form in his hand, shaping up into something similar to miniature suns. He then flung the great orbs up towards the roof where they hovered about indefinitely. The Cerberus found itself entranced by the view, gazing up towards the solar orbs. Albus took this chance to try and sneak by, but after a certain point, the hound lost interest, returned its attention towards the mages and bashed Albus back into the wall. His comrades rushed to his side to tend to him. Luckily, he had not sustained any real damage to anything but his pride. "I think we are on the right path. He was held occupied for just a moment. Maybe if we give him something truly marvelous to behold, then we might be able to pass. We should do something together. Unified magic is always the best." He spoke as he began to make his way up from his current position. "Follow my lead friends. Let's give it a show." Albus stepped forward once more, but this time made sure to keep a rather safe distance from it, judging by its reactions. He started to weave and spin his hands in flashy motions, radiating with energy, captivating the great guardian. As he continued his motions, something started to take form. From light and dust rose the figure of a magnificent and radiant equine, its "fur" gleaming like silver and hooves like gold. "Now it is your guys' turn. Make something really pretty here." Homura thought for a moment as she had never really considered the idea of calling magic beautiful as to her such a thing was simply a means to an end, a catalyst to achieve her goals and as such she had never taken the time to learn any spells that weren't meant to destroy her opponents. However, she was a smart lass and could make do with what she had. The large book at her side floated in front of her as she flipped through the pages to find the spell she was looking for using her gale force reading glasses before continuing through to look for the second of the spells she wished to cast before letting the book shut and fall back to her side. She held out her right hand with her palm facing the ground, her magic forming into a thin sheet of metal which quickly tosses into the air, quickly moving her hands into an archery form as a brightly burning arrow formed with every inch she pulled back the nonexistent string. Letting it go the heavenly arrow shot forth and pierced the sheet of metal, the white hot flame instantly beginning to melt the metal thus creating a flaming ball of fire and molten metal above them which cast a light capable of banishing the darkness from the room. She knew that even if the creature wasn't distracted long enough for them to get through, it would most likely leave it blind for a few extra moments. Calypso bounced up and down, excited to show off what she could do in this challenge. Her Poison Devil Slayer Magic could take on several forms, whether they be liquid, solid or in gas form, and with a variety of colors to chose from to use, Calypso had just the idea. It was ever so slightly complicated, but if it worked, then it would definitely pay off. Calypso raised her hands upward towards the horse and began to channel her magic into it, concentrating hard to get it just how she wanted it. It was lucky that Homura temporarily blinded the beast, that way it could not get used to the sight of the horse and get bored before she could contribute. As the light started to fade, the great beast took another look at the equine only to find it in an even more brilliant shape. Instead of a naked stallion, before it now stood a great shining steed, with a mane of flowing toxic gasses. Gasses which also surrounded it's hooves, giving off the effect of trailing mists, but the mane was the main attraction to her endeavor. Shifting and twisting the colors of the toxins in the mist, it gave off the look of a shortlived, swirling nebula, shining with millions of billions of stars within. The mane of "stars" was a near intoxicating sight, unbelievable and astounding. Yu knew very well that she could not follow up on something like that, but she would not allow herself to be left out of the action this time around. Still in the form of her Demi-Kirin, Yu used her glass magic to conjure up a large horn of pristine glass upon its forehead, no more a horse but a Unicorn. After this was done, she infused said horn with her Aurora magic, affixing all of her auras into it, making for a wonderful chromatic spectacle.The colors within began to swirl and shift, spinning at speeds unimaginable before reaching its climax, sending out a vast amount of Aurora magic out of the tip of the horn, blazing through the air and towards the roof. When Nina saw the projectiles of Auroras reach towards the roof, Nina knew just what to do to give it the final touches. Analyzing the the spell before her, she then used her Data-Make to disassemble the spellwork in a grand explosion of colors and data, falling downwards or sometimes even forming into various shapes, like a great dragon's head that roared, a flock of doves that flew in circles above them, and lastly, as everything faded from view, the sparkles and bits of data and aurora dust which slowly fell downwards were suddenly drawn towards the unicorn's back, taking on the form of a pair of great and marvelous wings, glimmering in a vast variety of subtle colors. No longer a unicorn, but something entirely new. The great equine stood before the Cerberus, captivating it with its beauty, flaunting it's wings and horn, doing everything to keep its attention. As it stood distracted, all the members of Salamander Shade sneaked past the great hound, but before they took their leave, Yu took notice of a small bit of scribble underneath the hound's paw. Gently lifting said paw away, which it took no notice of, Yu carved the next piece of the puzzle into her slab of rock. After it was done, they proceeded to the next challenge. Homura followed the group down the rest of the cave-like corridor until they came to a larger open room with several large blocks strewn about. Looking up at the opposite wall she pointed out a door high above them. She debated using her earth magic to get them up there but knew that it would likely not work as she was sure their passage to the next challenge had something to do with these blocks. Moving over to one, she pushed it with all her might, feeling it budge but move very little. Deciding one of her other forms would handle pushing the heavy blocks much easier she attempted to use her magic to no avail, feeling no reaction when she focused her magic throughout her body. "This room is designed to be anti-magic..." She said to no one person in particular as moved to lean up against the walls, the sound of gears turning suddenly ringing out as dust fell from the ceiling several stories above them. Wiping the fallen dust from her glasses she quickly turns back to the block, realizing their situation just became a lot more dire. As she moved to begin pushing the block, she felt the grooves in its side and stared at it for a few moments, "There are some kind of symbols on the blocks. I don't know what they mean but they look like parts of letters or numbers or something like that." She said, pushing the block another inch toward where they would have to begin building their staircase. "Well, no time like the present!" Shouted Albus as he began to push a block of his own. The block in question was faily light to him, but it was not without effort that he began to push forward as fast as he possibly could. THe sand which gathered at the bottom of the boxes only served to slow him down, frustrating him as he pushed and flipped his way through the grounds. As he reached the end of the great room, he put the box away has he hurried back to the beginning to repeat the process. Nina was right behind him, using her mechanically structured arms to pave her way through the sands, finding little difficulty making her way through. Once she got to the other side, rather than returning to get a new one, she remained to try and figure out the trick behind this puzzle. What she assumed was letters and pieces of letters were supposed to build to a greater whole. She took the three boxes they had gathered and attempted to put them in some sort of order. "The F-" She spoke out lod when she had connected the two blocks before her. Then it struck her. She turned around and cried out to her teammates: "The boxes spell out a word. I think it is the clue to the riddle!" She shouted as she started to run back. "We need to put them in proper order to spell out the message! So put your backs into it and let's get moving!" Yu put the slab down as her strength started to fade away along with her Kirin form. Watching Nina, Homura and Albus do their work, she figured right away that she was not fit enough to be able and push these boxes on her own. So rather than wasting time on a futile effort, she headed to the other side so that she could organize the boxes positions. As Homura arrived with her box, she first asked her to pull them in order before she could return to pushing more boxes. It was then that she noticed something odd. On one side of the box there was the line which seemed to hint towards the riddle piece, but on an entirely other end, there was another bit of writing. Two spots in different ends? Then, that would mean... "Homura, when you return to them, tell them that we have to put them in order twice. One time to find the riddle piece and another for the Salamander Shade. I think both will prove important to us." Homura let out a sigh at hearing about the time-consuming work they would have to put in to complete this challenge, having to build the boxes up not once but twice before they could leave. Responding with a nod, she moved to tell the others of their discovery before moving to the next unoccupied box. Once all the boxes were gathered, they went to work on building up the crates to match the side with the riddle piece on it. Making as quick of work as they could, the ceiling had lowered a considerable amount by the time everything was in place. Allowing Yu to write down the riddle piece, they unstacked the boxes and moved to spell out their guild name. With sweat pouring down her face, no doubt running the fragile cloth that made up her suit, she helped push the last box up to the top of the staircase before a green light appeared over the exit, opening to allow their escape from the room that was hellbent on making them into pancakes. After exiting the room she and her team find herself down a long hallway with a bright light way down the path most likely being the entrance to the next challenge. Pulling off her glasses, she used her sleeve to clean off the fog the sweat had cause before placing them back on her face and using her middle finger to push it up to its natural position on her nose. "If I remember correctly, we only have whatever this next challenge is and the riddle before we have reached completion of this stage. I wonder if the other teams have made it through yet." She said, speaking to no one person in particular as they began to walk down the corridor, hearing the ceiling behind them begin crushing the crates they had used to build the staircase. The sound caused her to cringe at thinking that it could have possibly been their bones rather than the wooden crates. However, she would like to think the event organizers wouldn't let something like that happen. "Possibly," Spoke Calypso, the woman still feeling rather shaky from the previous endeavor, a feeling which was only amplified upon the crushing of the crates behind them. "However, we must remember that speed does not matter too much with this. It's a matter of performance rather than haste." she said as the group came about entering the next room. It was colossal, even bigger than the previous one, it's floor and walls shaped from a pristine white rock, and in the middle of the room, hovering freely above the ground, was a small box with a big red button, suspended in midair. "What is this supposed to-" before Calypso had managed to finish her sentence, the door behind them closed with a slam, and in that moment, there was a mighty shift in gravity, changing so that the floor was suddenly the roof. The team of mages crashed into the former roof, using a variety of spells and abilities to cushion their fall. Calypso was the first to recuperate, trying to hurry and reach the button before anything else happened. When she made her jump towards the button, the gravity of the room changed once more, sending everyone plummeting down towards the left wall. A bit more prepared this time around, they managed to land all well and dandy, but there was a sudden increase in the force of the gravity, making standing up an effort for several of them. Nina groaned. "Should have figured that this wasn't going to be easy." she muttered. Yu joined in with her daughter in an attempt to reach the button, now having re-entered her kirin form. "Stop!" Nina cried out, halting the two of them in their efforts. "We need to analyze our surroundings first. We need to know exactly what we are dealing with." And with those words, the gravity shifted again, flinging them to the left again. This time the gravitational force was weaker, making their fall somewhat slower than normally. "As I suspected. There is a ten-second space between all the shifts, that is our time window to reach that box. I have an idea, but we'll have to work together. Albus, Pillar please." Nina spoke as she created a concentrated field of gravity, pulling things within a certain field into it, positioned halfway to the button. "Gladly. Though we should probably wait for-" Gravity changed once more, shifting so that the wall which was the original floor was the floor once more. "that." Not wasting any more time, he created a tunnel of iron pillars which reached from the ground up to the roof, with a small opening for someone to enter through. Yu took the opportunity to jump into the gravity field, which held her suspended until such a point where the gravity in the room changed once more. Once it did, she dashed into the pillar and began to climb her way upwards. She heard a grinding sound, like stone against metal, so she looked down to find that the floor was rising with her. "Should prove helpful. Good job Homura." She spoke to herself as she continued her ascent. Gravity shifted once more, sending her plummeting down to the tiled ground. She attempted to ensue her climb, only for the gravity to shift again, but not in another direction, but rather increasing the gravitational push to greater heights. It made the climb even harder than before, but she still pressed on. Ten more seconds passed, once again not changing the direction, only the force, now even stronger. Not feeling capable of traveling further, and the rest of her teammates pressed firmly against the ground without the ability to rise up, Yu started to believe that it was lost. She took a deep breath to calm her anxious nerves. As she did this, she felt something. She felt stronger. She slowly pushed herself up, noticing a mist of colorful gas surround her. It was Calypso's Stimulating Poison, elevating her physical prowess further. She took another breath, taking in the gas into her lungs. It was poison and would harm her in the long run, but for now, it gave her just what she needed. She pushed on, each breath giving her more and more strength until she finally managed to reach the box and press the button. The sound of a door opening rang out in the room and the box spewed out a small piece of paper which contained the final piece of the riddle which Yu quickly grabbed before she bashed her way out of the iron cage, reuniting with her comrades. Nina took action as the gravity finally shifted into a different direction and with lower pressure. She created several spots of gravitational change, pulling everyone into them, one by one, right after the other, new centers of gravity was created until they had pulled them to the exit of the room. As eveeryone left the room behind, they breathed a sigh of relief to experience proper, ordinary gravity once more. "Definitely the worst of the trials." Nina spoke, to which her comrades gave small affirmations to this statement. The team proceeded forward, Nina taking the slab from Yu whilst Calypso aided her mother with taking away the poison within her. "So, we have the complete riddle, now to figure it out. Does this make sense to you, Homura?" Nina asked as she showed her teammate the inscription on the slab along with the piece of paper.